
Sri Lanka’s navy said Tuesday that it has arrested 67 people who it believes were trying to travel by sea to Australia illegally.
The navy said in a statement that 12 men were arrested first near the port town of Trincomalee, 260 kilometers (160 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo on Monday and, upon questioning them, intercepted 55 more people traveling in a fishing vessel. It said the persons were aged between 3 and 53, and that five of them are suspected be part of a human smuggling ring.